1. Field
The following disclosure relates to a connection assembly, for example, a mechanism to quickly attach and detach one or more shopping carts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many retail establishments provide carts, such as shopping carts, to guests for their shopping convenience. In certain environments, the carts may be designed to be transported outside of the store, such as into a parking lot, to aid in transporting various items to the customers' vehicles. Sometimes, customers are encouraged to leave the carts in the lot, such as in a designated cart corral area. However, in order for the carts to be readily accessible for additional store customers, the carts need to be transported back to the store.
To facilitate transporting the carts, a cart retriever may be used. A cart retriever is a motorized mobile unit that provides motive force (e.g., by pushing or pulling) to a chain of nested carts. In order to provide such force, the cart retriever generally is coupled with at least one of the chain of carts using a connection assembly. For example, the connection assembly can be used to couple the cart retriever to the rear-most cart in the chain.